Mornin' Dave and all. Here a bit borchorno (muggy) but the forecast is for a slight lowering of temperatures. Seems a bit unreal today. Once tea mug was full I remembered a strange dream. Lots of smiling Elton, nervous tension, roaring and oooo'ing and ahhhrrrr ing. And then a sadness. And then a genie came out of a lamp and offered one wish, and then it was all a bit blurry. I turned the pc on and it read Watford 2 Spurs 1. So I must still be dreaming. I'll post again when I wake up. Hope we didn't lose by more than one goal. That would not be a bad performance. Maybe against all hope we snatched a draw
Morning all. A very cheerful start to my planned job for the day, which is to remove a blackthorn that is in the wrong place. Been putting it off for a while as I know I will come off worse, but seeing that things do go well sometimes I will give it a go.
Good luck with that Frenchie ! We've got 6 blackthorn bushes as part of the hedge - all fully laden with sloes which look ripe, but........... We want to make sloe gin or Liquer from them, but the neighbours all say that I should wait until the first frost - which means waiting till the birds have got them first. Some people say that if you pick them and put them in the freezer it has the same effect and removes part of the sourness - have you got any experience of using sloes in this way ?
Not tried to use the sloes cologne, but I have dozens of trees with them on. This might suggest that they fell to the ground and germinated before the birds had them, or that the birds had them and added something as they passed through.
Cheers Frenchie, I will just need to experiment with the home made alcoholic beverages I guess. On your second point Blackthorn can send runners up to around 3 metres from the mother plant so if you see a young plant close to another, larger, one then you can bet they are connected.
Done many a sloe gin in Hampshire. Used to get younger members of the family to collect them, process them, agitate the bottles, when ready put it in small corked bottles with printed personalised labels, and give them to aunts and uncles as handmade christmas presents. Always very well received. Tried the freezer method and it worked fine. That said around us in north hants there was rarely a shortage and no evidence of birds taking many. Remember to agitate often to get the flavour. Mixed with sparkling wine makes a good drink. And try them with vodka instead of gin Reminds me I need to pick my olives while they are still green. Too bitter if I let them turn black .
Cheers KC, I knew that someone on the board would have experience of this Looks like the freezer then - waiting for the first frost (even at 350 metres above sea level) is too unpredictable.
Cologne the problem I had was you couldn't pick them before they'd fully rippened (late October where I was to get best flavour and less bitterness) and you couldn't wait longer or you end up too near Xmas to let the full flavours mix. And of course Jack Frost seems not to have been sent his copy of the agenda I do remember that a stick of cinnamon was a good incredient. Well harvested the olives and ended up with 61!!! Last year 250+. Should say he is only a container tree
Little blood lost and the tree is only a metre high stump now. I wanted to dig it out, but even using a post hole spade couldn't get it in more than 25mm. I did notice that a lot of sloes just fell off the branches with shaking, suggesting they are ripe. In normal years I pick loads of blackberries, but although there is a mass of them in the hedgerows they have just shriveled up due to the lack of rain.
Rita Ora was then on the main stage at the Weekender festival here yesterday, so must have flown over first thing. Sister Sledge were also part of the line-up.
She was really good but Craig David was exceptional, he really appreciates his second chance after being out of favour for a few years.
Morning all. Quite a lot of grey sky, but no rain in sight. It seems that France had a hot summer in the same way as the UK. The average temperature was 2.5°C above normal, but not as hot as 2003 when it was 3.5°C above normal. With the country being so large and varied we can be basking in a mini heatwave, while in the east it can be snowing.
Just been given the dates for my follow up. 12th September for the pre op with the procedure on the 17th. A couple of weeks after that I should know a lot more
Me (seated) and a few of my Sunderland friends raising a glass to Billy D who died recently aged just 51 please log in to view this image
